International Law, Impunity and State Responsibility
There is a relationship between the new international law of human rights and the impunity that tends to accompany its violation. The best guarantee that human rights are not merely decorative in international relations is that every infraction be punished; the contrary is to encourage the commission of new atrocities. Certain factors at the national level enable the impunity of numerous human rights violations; on the other hand, numerous international commitments impose on the State the duty to investigate and punish each of those acts. These treaties would allow the norm to crystallize as a general principle of international law.